1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for facilitating fitting of a male connector housing into a female connector housing and moreparticularly to a shape of the guide wall of the female connector housing for guiding the male connector thereinto.
2. Description of Prior Art
A connector housing is commonly provided with a guide wall for guiding electrical contacting pins or male terminals into female terminals to prevent deformation of the contacting terminals due to a force unexpectedly applied thereto when inserting the male connector housing into the female connector housing. FIG. 5 illustrates an example of one such connector housing having a guide wall.
Referring to FIG. 5, there is shown a male connector housing 2, which is to be inserted into a female connector housing 1. A rib 13 is provided to prevent a guide wall 11 from deflecting into the inner side of the housing as a result of the injection molding process. The rib 13 fits to a groove 23 of the male connector housing 2 when the female connector housing 1 receives the male connector housing 2.
Conventionally connector housings such as those shown in FIG. 5 have been used in order to avoid exerting any deforming force on the connector housing even though it is more effective not to have a gap between the inner surface of the guide wall 11b and the outer wall of the male connector housing.
On the other hand, frictional forces developed between the wall surfaces of the male and female connector housings often causes excessive drag when drawing the male connector housing out of the female connector housing as well as an excessive resistive force against the insertion force applied to insert the male connector housing into the female connector housing. Japanese Utility Model KOKAI No. 58-73575 discloses one type of connectors for overcoming the aforementioned drawback as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The connector is provided with a shallow recess 14 except in proximity to the corner portions 12. The area spanned by the recess 14 is subject to the largest deforming force and is reinforced with a rib 13 to reduce the frictional force acting on the portion 14 to facilitate smooth fitting of the connectors.
However, the rib 13 provided on the connector shown in FIG. 6 is not strong enough to effectively prevent deflection of the guide wall 11 into the inner space defined by the guide wall, as shown by phantom lines in FIG. 7. Deflection of the guide wall 11 in this manner causes the inwardly projecting portion of the wall 11 to push or press against the fitting surface of the male connector 2, thereby causing difficulty in fitting the male connector housing into the female connector housing.